The most important benefit is that it provides the time and the space for reflective practice to develop and become part of the normal day to day of practice.
Having reflective space enables us as practitioners to work out what just happened and how that made us feel. It encourages us to listen deep and long to our bodies and to our feelings. You can’t create feelings they happen before our brains have got into gear. If we react to a person or an event we are missing vital information about our own wellbeing if we take no notice of the reaction and understand where it came from.
One example of this might be if you receive an email from a particular client and immediately feel sick before you have even read the email – just seeing their name is enough to trigger the feeling. What is that about? What feelings are engendered? Where do they stem from? What can be done about the situation? These questions and more can be explored fully within supervision. And this is but one example of the myriad instances that arise in each working day when we will feel angry, frustrated, elated, uncertain, helpless, content and so on.
Supervision is a space to talk about our relationships, good and bad, with clients, colleagues and other professionals alike. It will allow us to review where we are on our career paths and ponder whether changes need to be made – what is life giving about what we do? what is draining?
Anything that is work related can be explored and reflected on in supervision.